Archive | Financial ETFs

Canada, India, Turkey, Australia, China and Denmark. What do all of these countries have in common? The central bank of each nation has eased monetary policy to stimulate respective economies in 2015. What’s more, none of these actions had been anticipated; rather, the media described rate cuts as “surprising” or diminished reserve requirements as “unexpected.”
In [...] Continue Reading...

Financial professionals are blaming the latest round of risk asset uncertainty on a variety of factors, from the continuing sell-off in oil to the possibility of Greece being kicked out of the euro-zone. Still others are pointing to anxiety over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s intention to raise its overnight lending rate target in mid-2015 – [...] Continue Reading...

I have not been able to sell my house. I have lowered the original asking price ($1,139,000) by more than 5%. I have jacked up the commission for buyer agents. None of it matters â€“ million dollar homes throughout Orange County, California are not receiving a whole lot of offers.
Granted, real estate is local. What’s [...] Continue Reading...

According to the Social Security Administration, the average monthly benefit for retired workers of 65 years of age is $1,300 per month, or $15,600 per year. Median family income in the United States is currently $54,000. With roughly 20 percent of people near 65 years old having saved zero for retirement, how can these folks [...] Continue Reading...

The Wall Street media may celebrate the 35% intra-day jump in Alibaba shares. They may tout the record highs in the Dow and the S&P 500. However, they are missing the boat on both the economy as well as key stock market divergences.
Let us start with the economic environment. The all-important Conference Board’s Leading Indicators [...] Continue Reading...

The U.S. economy has been growing at an annualized pace of roughly 2% since the current expansion began in June of 2009. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first half of 2014 hovered around a paltry 1%. And while many contend that 2nd quarter growth at approximately 4% is signaling better times ahead, members of [...] Continue Reading...

Have you studied the history of stocks in the U.S? Most people are aware of the crash in 1929 as well as the capital depreciation that occurred through 1932. Yet many may not be aware of the government stimulus in 1933 that helped the market soar 200% over the next four years. While the stimulus [...] Continue Reading...

Admit it. You are feeling a little bit edgy these days. While you understand that fear is the elixir of investment opportunity, you also recognize that there is little glory for the last person standing on a sinking aircraft carrier.
Most in the media have been touting bull market accomplishments, job gains and economic progress. Writers [...] Continue Reading...

My wife and I sold two condominiums near the tail end of 2005. We could not justify owning residences that were 40% more expensive to own than to rent. Simply put, it was time to cash in.
Due largely to my comfort with the liquidity of market-based securities, I did not wade back into the real [...] Continue Reading...

The S&P 500 has served up a 7%-plus return through the first six-and-a-half months of the year. That’s remarkably impressive when one considers the depth of geopolitical conflict, the implication of structural under-employment, the October end of quantitative easing (QE3) and the strong possibility of a significant change to the legislative branch this November.
Naturally, some [...] Continue Reading...